A blog about Thomas Witlam Atkinson and Lucy Atkinson, the 19th century explorers of Siberia and Central Asia

More on Vladimir Chernikov and the Kropotkin Volcano

More on our incredible meeting with Vladimir Chernikov in a bog in Buryatia – see my posting of 19 July. As we were leaving, Vladimir was on his was on his way to the Jombolok Volcano Field to leave a plaque at the base of the Kropotkin Volcano. He has now returned home safely to Krasnoyarsk, having successfully installed the double plaque in front of the Volcano. You can read more about his amazing journey (in Russian) here on his blog and also here.

Vladimir had an extraordinary journey, particularly as he and his companion, Sergei Izoupov, were travelling by bicycle. Here is a picture of their memorial cairn to Kropotkin.

Vladimir was also able to travel down the Jombolok River Valley, which flows from Lake Kara Noor. For the first 20kms it flows underground, before surfacing for the next 50kms. We were unable to make this journey due to shortage of time. So I am very grateful to Vladimir, who was able to photograph the site of the Jombolok waterfall, that was the subject of a painting by Thomas Atkinson.

Here is Vladimir’s photo of the waterfall:

And here is a lithograph of Thomas’s painting of the same place:

Atkinson’s painting of the waterfall on the Jombolok River

Vladimir also had some other news. We talked during our meeting in Buryatia about the fact that some of the peaks surrounding the Jombolok Volcano Field are still unnamed. When he said he was going to approach the Russian Geographical Society about naming one of the peaks after Kropotkin, I asked him if it might be possible to do the same for Atkinson. Vladimir has now agreed to do this and has also marked out the particular peak he has in mind. Here is the map he sent, with Peak Atkinson clearly marked.